no one talks about silence
you need some space
It was 3 p.m. when I grabbed my keys and headed down to my car.
I started driving to the café where I usually work. As I often do, I turned on a podcast about business history. Stories of how founders' life experiences shaped the companies they built.
Halfway there, something strange happened. I realized I spend nearly all my waking hours either working or consuming information. There's no time for silence. Where did this thought come from? I'm not sure. But I reached over and turned the podcast off.
The world around me wasn't quiet, of course. Cars honked, people walked by, motorcycles weaved through traffic. But suddenly, my car was quiet. No external voices feeding me with new thoughts or ideas.
This silence felt uncomfortable, almost brutal. I had an immediate urge to turn something back on, to feed my brain with fresh insights. Why? Perhaps because my own thoughts weren't engaging enough, or maybe they were too confronting to face directly.
But this time I resisted. I decided to complete my drive to the café without any audio companion. I didn't need new ideas; I needed to give my mind space to process the ones already there.
It’s revealing to just observe what I do on a typical day. When eating alone, I put on videos to "take the boredom away." (How did eating become boring?) Before sleeping, I watch YouTube videos that promise some new insight about life. Walking, driving. Always with podcasts playing. I realized I hadn't experienced genuine mental silence in ages. It was just an endless stream of ideas flowing into my brain, one after another.
This moment became a turning point. I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with podcasts. I still eagerly anticipate the next episode of Acquired. But I'm learning to distinguish between deliberate consumption and filling every moment with noise. When I'm not genuinely curious about specific content but just using it to occupy time, I'm now choosing silence instead.
This means driving just to drive. Eating just to eat. Walking just to walk and observe my surroundings. Being present rather than constantly narrating or consuming narratives. Enjoying silence, rather than feeding your brain all the time.